A loss for their ‘family’

BEIJING – Stacy Sykora has played in hundreds of international volleyball matches, including 12 in two previous Olympics. None was more meaningful than Saturday’s.

Sykora roomed with Elisabeth Bachman in Athens in 2004. The two had been teammates on the national team for more than three years.

Bachman, who married USA men’s volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon in December 2006, was with her parents at a popular tourist site in Beijing on Saturday when her father, Todd Bachman, was stabbed to death and her mother, Barbara, was left seriously injured. The couple, as well as their Chinese tour guide, were attacked by a knife-wielding man at a popular tourist site in Beijing. Barbara and the guide were seriously injured by the attacker, who jumped to his death from a balcony of the Drum Tower, an ancient landmark the Americans were visiting.

Todd and Barbara Bachman had traveled with the women’s team during their daughter’s three years on the national roster. They were in Beijing to watch their son-in-law coach the men’s team. They were like family to USA Volleyball.

“You have to understand what Liz Bachman is to USA Volleyball,” said Sykora, who is on her third Olympic team. “She’s probably the nicest person in the entire world, her and her family. Her family is like our family.”

So the unexpected wake-up call late Saturday afternoon was a jolt to the 12 players on the women’s team. It came only a few hours before they were to play fifth-seeded Japan.

The team meeting was canceled. The players were told to call their families.

Suddenly, the opening match didn’t seem so big anymore.

“I told them we had to be strong, that we had to show the spirit,” U.S. coach Jenny Ping Lang said. “It’s very difficult for players to move on when they have like three hours to deal with everything.”

Sykora waited until after the 25-20, 20-25, 25-19, 25-21 victory over the Japanese before she called Burleson, Texas, to talk to her mother, Sherian Richards. It was after 2 a.m. in Beijing, and Sykora was emotionally spent.

“But I was very relieved to hear from her,” said Richards, who watched the match on TV.

The Olympics have a way of binding athletes. It’s only 16 days of competition, but it leaves behind a lifetime of memories.

Eight players on the 2008 roster also played on the 2004 team with Bachman.

Sykora knows more about Bachman than she was a 6-4 middle blocker from UCLA by way of Lakeville, Minn. She knows Bachman is a fan of Kelly Clarkson, who, like Sykora, grew up in Burleson. She knows Bachman has a sweet tooth and is a big fan of “The Amazing Race.”

Sykora and her teammates also had grown to know and to love Bachman’s parents.

This wasn’t some senseless act of violence on strangers. This was a senseless act of violence on people they knew and loved.

Bachman had sent her former teammates an e-mail Saturday morning before she went to the Drum Tower, an ancient landmark in the city. She wished them luck and told them she would be in the stands watching their match against Japan.

“The tragedy that happened with Liz Bachman is something that not only could happen to Liz Bachman, but it could happen to anybody in the world,” Sykora said, choking up. “It’s still a tragedy, but unfortunately, it happened to one of our teammates.”

After hearing the news, the players shed tears and shared hugs. They then quickly decided to dedicate their match to their former teammate.

Leaving their emotions in the locker room wasn’t easy, but the fourth-seeded Americans somehow got through it with a victory.

“It’s hard,” outside hitter Logan Tom said. “I mean, you can’t forget something like that. You always have it in the back of your head.

“We all love her, and I’m glad what we did for her. A lot of girls played for her.”